Hometown Hockey events and the 2018
Winter Olympics from Pyeongchang,
South Korea brought Canadians together
with a tremendous sense of pride and
happiness. From local community, to
city, to country, people get to come
together to watch or provide
commentary on a range of sporting
events forgetting about other negative
occurrences, and instead, foc

Surviving students from a mass
shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas
High School in Parkland, Florida have
had enough of just ‘thoughts and
prayers’ from politicians. Watching 17
of their fellow classmates, teachers
and coaches get murdered in cold
blood, by a 19-year-old former student
with an assault rifle, was absolutely
traumatizing. Yet, despit

Colten Boushie, a 22-year-old Cree
man, resident of Red Pheasant First
Nation, was fatally shot by Gerald
Stanley, a 56-year-old farmer on his
farm in Battleford, Saskatchewan. An
all-white jury of seven women and five
men fully acquitted Stanley.
Indigenous people have reacted with
outrage at the jury’s decision and
blame systemic racism. Politici

Todd Smith, local Prince Edward-
Hastings MPP, announced recently that
he would not run for the leadership of
the Ontario Progressive Conservative
Party. Tellingly, his reasons for
declining a run at the leadership were
logical and forthright. It takes a
considerable amount of money to run a
campaign for a leadership bid and this
one is quite short.

Today is Bell Lets Talk Day. Hopefully, across the country, people will be having discussions about mental health matters. And, perhaps, most importantly, people will be listening to each other respectfully. Raising awareness about mental health is definitely a worthwhile endeavour. For far too often, partially due to stigma, people with mental ill

Numerous women marches took place on January 21 in Canada and the United States. In 40 cites across Canada women organized, and then marched, in order to bring light to women’s issues. One of the main issues brought up by many speakers was sexual harassment. It was definitely buoyed by the #MeToo movement. As well, an emphasis on inclusion and equa

The Sears store at the Quinte Mall
and, shortly, its warehouse shutting
its doors is not good news for
workers. There are numerous reasons as
to why Sears couldn’t keep up with the
changing times. The original catalogue
store should have had the foresight to
see that on-line shopping has arrived.
Consumers also have to realize there
is a cost for t

Minimum wage in Ontario went from $11.60 to $14.00 an hour on January 1, 2018. Reaction from local franchise owners has been, for the most part, predictably harsh. Some franchise owners, one notably from a Tim Hortons in Cobourg, have decided the employees will no longer have paid breaks and have benefits reduced considerably. Essentially, profit m

Belleville city council will look back with pride on 2017. Spending $92 million on Build Belleville projects has been extremely worthwhile. In fact, 15 out of 22 projects have been completed. Most notable have been the completion of Bay Bridge Road and Dundas Street and phase 2 of City Centre Revitalization. As well, the City of Belleville was able

Moira Secondary School may no longer endure because the Hastings Prince Edward Board of Education has apparently already swapped its name. Quinte Secondary School will also cease to exist. In one year, half a century of name recognition with significant historical relevance to the Bay of Quinte area will be gone. HPEDSB and the local trustees have

Kathleen Wynne, Premier of Ontario, and leader of the Liberal party, pulled ahead of Patrick Brown’s Progressive Conservative Party and Andrea Horwath’s NDP party this week according to a major poll.“No way. That is impossible,” would have been most citizen’s reaction. Yet, one poll says the Liberals have a slight lead. In fairness, it is only one

Quietly, without much fanfare, public education in isolation, has been in the news. However, when you put all of the educational stories together, major changes, could lead to considerably loud reactions from citizens soon. Executive compensation after a few years of being frozen will cost Boards of Education more money. As well, the public has bee

The 105th Grey Cup game held in Ottawa was quintessential Canadian. The amazing comeback by Toronto Argonauts, defeating the snake-bitten Calgary Stampeders 27-24, with last minute heroics by their defence, made for a decidedly entertaining football game. Shania Twain arriving at half-time via dog sled and entertaining 36,154 fans with two of her o

Loyalist college students, along with professors, instructors, counsellors and librarians, are back to school this week after the provincial government passed back-to-work legislation this weekend. All three political parties played politics, with their actions and comments, in a prelude of positioning, regarding next June’s impending provincial el

The Dr. Shuman Memorial award is scheduled to be presented November 20, to a deserving Ryerson University undergraduate student enrolled in their School of Journalism program. This award will support high-achieving journalism students who exhibit promise and determination, along with a strong interest in the laws of Ontario. Dr. Shuman was a strong

The most notable game experience for a Belleville Senators fan watching pro hockey at the AHL is the lighting of the ice surface. LED lighting has brightened up the ice surface amazingly. The level of hockey, compared to the OHL, is vastly superior. The players are considerably faster, stronger and, for the most part, older. These are young men pla

Robert Mueller, former Director of the FBI from 2001 to 2013, and now, head of the Special Counsel investigating Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections made significant moves on Monday. A federal grand jury approved first charges from his months-long investigation. Paul Manafort, former campaign chair for, President Trump and Rick

The Belleville Senators play their first American Hockey League regular season game at home next Wednesday, Nov. 1, in a $20.5-million-dollar refurbished Yardmen Arena. Additional seats have been added near the reduced ice surface and to the north. Not many citizens have complained about having a major tenant returning to Yardmen Arena. However, a